Belief
by incinera
Summary: A woman finds a dead soldier, only for the body to vanish. She thinks it was real but does anyone else?
1. Now you see him,now you don't

**Disclaimer: Incinera does not own NCIS. She does own Danielle Singer and her family.**

In Danni's opinion, deciding to go visit her sister had been the stupidest idea she'd had all week. Every time she went to visit her twin, all Ellie did was bitch. Her boss was a task master, her boyfriend was an idiot, her neighbours were rude—Eleanor just wouldn't _shut up_. Danni would be hearing her twin's incessant complaining from the moment of arrival to her (usually hasty) departure.

And worse was when Ellie eventually shifted gears from whining about her life, to criticising her sister's. It had been especially irritating this time. Ellie had spent the whole time dropping hints about a guy she knew who wouldn't have problems with dating a single mom. It had eventually gotten to the point that Danni had informed her sister that a man so interested in single mothers was probably a pedophile.

The situation had devolved from there.

Now Danni was driving home two days earlier than expected; with five unhappy children. If she heard "I gotta go potty" one more time, she'd scream. Damn Max for leaving her at the mercy of Ellie the Matchmaker and five grumpy kids. If that bastard ever showed his face again—

A body slammed into the windshield and the airbags deployed. Danni made out a military uniform before it all went dark.

"Mommy!"

The frightened wail from the backseat jerked Danni out of a haze. The woman lifted her head from where it had been resting on the airbag and looked around fuzzily. The van was resting at the side of the road, still running to her confusion. Had she fallen asleep at the wheel?

Fighting down the airbag, she managed to twist around to check on the kids. Gabriel was still safely strapped into his carrier, and the girls were both still in their booster seats. The twins were out of their seats in the back. Sly was flopped over the back of the middle seat, checking on his siblings, while Izzy was similarly settled, staring at his mother.

"Are you alright?" Izzy nodded and Sly looked up briefly to nod as well. His attention was mostly focussed on three-year-old Emilia who was in tears.

"Mommy!" The child sobbed again before looking up. "Mommy ow!"

Ow? "Is she hurt?" Danni asked, before mentally smacking herself for asking. The twins were seven. How the hell would they know?

"No Mommy," Izzy spoke sweetly. "I think she means you. You nose is all bloody."

Danni reached up to check her nose. The slight touch set of a sharp throbbing and Danni brought her hands away rapidly. They were smeared with red. "Shit." She looked up to check her reflection for more damage, and found herself staring at the damaged windshield.

It hit her then. The man in the uniform, his dead eyes looking her in the face, how he'd simply fallen from above. The man was gone now. Danni didn't understand, she was sure he'd been dead.

He couldn't have just walked away, could he?

Danni found her cell in her pocket. She dialled the three simple numbers.

"Hello, 911?"


	2. I know what I saw

**Disclaimer: **__**I don't own NCIS. I only own Danielle Singer and her relatives.**

"I swear Ellie! It wasn't a #$%ing deer, it was a guy! He fell on my car and smashed into the windshield!"

"Uh-huh," Ellie Singer sighed. "Danni, you were concussed. And they found the deer's body. You didn't hit anyone."

"I didn't hit _him_, he hit me! Ask the kids! They were there! AND I'M NOT CONCUSSED!!"

"Shh! Lower your voice already! The kids remember something hitting the windshield and you losing control of the car. They haven't said anything about what it was."

Danni sighed. "El, I wasn't seeing things. I didn't hit a deer. That guy was real, and he was dead when he landed on the car. I don't know why no one found the body, but he was really there."

Ellie shook her head and stood. "Whatever. I'm gonna go get a coffee from the cafeteria." Danni looked at her hopefully. "No. No coffee for crazy head-injury girl. I'll get you jello or something." With that, the older of the twins walked out.

Danni leant back in her hospital bed. She hated it here. Emergency rooms brought back memories of her brief, but tumultuous marriage to Max. The last time she'd been in a room like this, she'd been getting her jaw wired shut while Max cursed her out as the doctor stitched up his side.

They'd had a love-hate relationship. Not an abusive one, no matter how often Ellie called it that. Danni had always given back as good as she got, and they'd never fought in front of the children or hurt the children in any way. They loved the kids too much.

Danni shook off the memories. Max had left and he wasn't coming back. Good riddance to him.

They'd said they were going to admit her. Danni didn't want that. She'd had concussions before and had been fine. Deciding she was leaving was easy. Her broken nose had been packed and the doc had given her a prescription for painkillers. And she _wasn't_ concussed. She'd been hit in the head enough to know.

Danni stood and grabbed her coat. She'd go find the doctor and sign out of here already.

She found her doctor in another cubicle; scolding a dark-haired man he called "Tony". Not wanting to bug the man who could get her discharged, she leant against a nearby wall and waited, she listened as he lectured the patient on taking better care of himself.

As she waited, a silver-haired man with a grumpy expression walked up accompanied by a gothic girl with pigtails who hung close to his side, a shorter man in a long coat with a strangely young face, a woman with dark hair and eyes who radiated something uneasy, and an older gentleman. They seemed to be waiting for the doctor's admonitions to end as well. The grumpy one gave her a hard look but said nothing. The others did not seem to notice her at first, but then the baby-faced one glanced over and his eyes widened. Danni grimaced inwardly. Her nose had been broken, and although it had been set, it was swollen and a nasty shade of purple-black. The rest of her face was badly bruised and cut, with stitches by her hairline. Danni knew she looked bad. That didn't mean he had to _stare_.

Just when she was about to make a very unpleasant comment to Baby-face, the curtain was pushed back and Doc looked out. "Hello Agent Gibbs. Long time no see." He noticed her as well. "Ah, Danni. Just give me a moment and I'll come check on Max with you." Danni nodded and settled against the wall. She felt no desire to correct Doc about the situation in front of strangers. Doc smiled and turned his attention to the group.


	3. Something on my face?

**Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS. I do own Max and the Singers.**

Abby was relieved. When Tony started coughing like that, it had worried the whole team and they'd ended up not going bowling after all. But Dr. Pitt had said Tony would be fine, and Gibbs had sent out everybody but himself, Tony, Ducky and the Doctor. So now she, Ziva and McGee were waiting outside.

McGee was staring at that woman again. Abby elbowed him, even though she could see why. The woman's nose was swollen and swathed with bandages. As for the rest of her face...well, to put it gently, Abby had never seen that many shades of purple on someone's skin. The bruising and the swelling were disturbing to look at, but...dammit, now she was staring!

She looked away, just as the Dr and the rest of their little group came out. Tony's face was flushed and, not looking where he was going, he stepped directly on the battered woman's hand.

"Sonuvabitch!"

Tony abruptly stepped back at the outcry and looked down. The woman's eyes were narrowed and her teeth were bared slightly. Unfortunately the facial damage caught Tony's attention and he stared open-mouthed at her.

The girl's eyes narrowed and she stumbled to her feet, hands clenching. She looked ready to launch herself at Tony.

Tony just looked confused.

"Danni!" Dr. Pitt said quickly. "Why don't we go find Max and your sister?" The girl turned to him.

"Max isn't here and I know where Ellie is. She's in the cafeteria being a bitch. I want you to sign me out."

Dr. Pitt looked surprised. "Max isn't here?" His expression changed to worry. "You didn't kill him, did you?" Danni shook her head. "Alright then, what can I do?"

"Sign me out."

"Danni, you hit your head very hard and with your medical history—"

"I don't have a #$%ing concussion and I didn't hallucinate. I didn't pass out at the wheel. There is NOTHING WRONG WITH ME EXCEPT THE FACT SOME SOLDIER FELL ON MY VAN FROM GOD KNOWS WHERE AND MADE ME CRASH!!!" The girl's face had reddened and she whirled on Tony and McGee. "STOP #$%ING _STARING_!!!"

Tony and McGee stepped back, eyes wide. The girl, Danni, gave them a disgusted glare before abruptly turning to Dr. Pitt. "Doc, please. I'm fine. I just wanna go home and forget about this whole frigging thing."

Dr. Pitt put his hand on Danni's arm. "We'll discuss it with your sister. Let's go find her, okay?" As he moved to lead her away, Gibbs stepped forward and looked down at her.

"Maybe we should come with you, Doc."


	4. Double Image

**Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS. I do own the Singers (and Max).**

Ziva snickered. McGee and Tony were currently situated as far as they could manage from the furious woman, who appeared ready to rip their throats out. Gibbs and Ducky were outside discussing what the girl had told them, and Dr. Pitt had gone back to his other patients after extracting a promise from Danni to stay put.

They had been in the process of escorting the girl back to her room, when the blonde had stumbled and sank to her knees. Apparently she _was_ slightly concussed and her earlier rant had set off a headache that had built until she couldn't see straight, prompting her fall.

A sudden clang caused the Mossad agent to tense. "This is ridiculous." Tony leant his chair back again. "Why are we here? I mean seriously."

Danni scowled at him. "I thought it was because you investigated crime. Doesn't a dead guy count as that?"

Tony glared back. "Not when he's some crazy chick's hallucination."

"Call me crazy again, _Special Agent_. I dare you to."

Ziva and McGee looked at each other, before preparing to intervene. Then a female voice cut in.

"Oh come on Danni. Do you have to pick a fight wi- _Tim_?"

"_Ellie_?"

The newcomer blinked in shock at McGee, who stared back dumbfounded. Danni sat up more. "_Tim_? _Your boyfriend Tim_?" She looked between the two before flopping back on the bed. "Huh…he looks exactly like I pictured him."

McGee blinked. "I knew she looked familiar."

Danni looked at him. "Duh. Identical twins. Of course I looked familiar."

McGee reddened. "It was, uh, kinda hard to see, you know, with your face all…" he trailed off.

"Oh. I get it now."

Ellie cleared her throat. "Tim, what the hell are you doing here? Please don't tell me it's about the soldier thing."

"Hey, I'm not sure he was a soldier. His clothes just looked…military-uniformy."

"Danni? Shut up. _Now_. As for you, Tim, what are you doing here and why are you encouraging her? She has a head injury, god knows what she really saw. The last time she was concussed she thought I was Princess Di."

"Okay, that was the morphine, not the head injury. And you do look a little like her. Well, if you squint a bit-"

"What did I just _say_?!"

"Right. Shutting up."

"Thank you."

Ellie turned to the agents with an expression of exasperation and started as Gibbs, Ducky and Abby entered. Ziva blinked as Abby made a beeline for Danni.

"Danni, right? I'm Abby." She got a nod, and a slight frown. Abby held up a small vial with what appeared to be a q-tip inside. "Do you know what this is?" A headshake. "It's a swab from your van's windshield. I exposed it to a chemical that reacts to blood. The chemical makes it turn blue. Can you see what color it is?"

Danni cleared her throat. "Blue."

Ellie frowned. "Does that react to animal blood too? Don't mess with her."

Abby shook her head as she answered. "Not unless deer have hands. This blood is from a print on the hood of the van. Somebody smashed into it."

Danni smiled for the first time.


End file.
